Lament For The Scribes
LAMENT FOR THE SCRIBES
MATTHEW 23:13-28
God’s law was meant for our good; the Pharisees had made it a drudgery, and in so doing had missed the heart of it altogether.
The seven “woes” of 23:13-32 can be read as laments rather than denunciations: “Alas for you!” rather than “Woe to you!” It is not implied that “scribes and Pharisees” are inevitably “hypocrites”; the reference is to hypocritical or “play-acting” scribes and Pharisees, whose “piety” was a matter of outward show. Such conduct is possible only in a context of sincere Pharisaism, such as is exemplified in the New Testament by Nicodemus, Gamaliel and Saul of Tarsus.
The charge in 23:13 refers to those who opposed Jesus’ preaching of the kingdom themselves and discouraged others from paying heed to it. 23:15 bears witness to the active proselytization in the dispersion at this time (cf. G. Tyrrell’s remark quoted in note on 5:16). 23:16-22 amplify 5:33-37 and expose the inconsistency of distinguishing between binding oaths and invalid oaths. The Pharisees were particularly scrupulous about tithing; in addition to tithing the main fruits of the earth (grain, wine and olive oil) specified in Deuteronomy 14:22f., they interpreted Leviticus 27:30 to cover garden herbs (23:23). But those who paid more attention to such minutiae than to “justice and mercy and faith” (cf. Micah 6:8) were aptly described as straining out midges from their drink while swallowing camels without noticing them (cf. 7:3-5).
The two “woes” of 23:25f. and 23:27f. return to the theme of outward respectability camouflaging inward sin. Tombs were whitewashed to draw attention to them, so that people who would incur ceremonial defilement by accidental contact with them—eg the high priest (Leviticus 21:11) or a Nazirite (Numbers 6:6) could easily avoid them.